Daily Iowan

Issue date: 7/26/07 Section: Sports

CEDAR FALLS - The trickle of RAGBRAI riders at noon grew into a steady stream that filled the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls by mid-afternoon Wednesday.

Passing beneath an arch of bicycle wheels, riders turned off of 27th Street and were greeted by shade tents, refreshments, and food stands.

Many settled in and cooled down after their long trek from Hampton under a summer heat that had topped out in the mid-80s.

"You crank out that kind of energy on a hot day, and you're really going to go through the fluids," said rider Owen Moore.

"Folks have been mighty kind to us as we've come through the towns, but I feel like we're a herd of locusts and that we come through and eat or drink anything we can get our hands on."

Moore, 71, who wore a yellow T-shirt that read "Team 70-plus," said he rides regularly in his hometown of Harrisburg, Pa., with a cycling club, but he was riding in his first RAGBRAI. A friend's invitation persuaded Moore to join both him and his granddaughters this year.

"I've seen it in magazines and literature for years - I've heard about it a long time," Moore said, "The opportunity to go with someone else made it very easy."

Despite his regular riding back home, Moore said that RAGBRAI has been a challenge because of the overall distance, but he's not pushing any harder than he has to.

"I learned a long time ago you ride your own pace or you die. I might die anyway," he said and laughed. "The mileage is a little bit long for me now."

Other new riders joined for just the second half of this year's ride to get a feel for the event, which is now in its 35th year.

Thirty-something sisters Ann and Jenny Ellsworth of La Porte City joined the ride in Hampton.

"Right when we got on the highway, I was a little intimidated, but that washed away after a minute. It's fun," said Ann Ellsworth, a 1999 UI graduate.

"You don't know how many people are on the highways. Every time you stop, there's like a million people going past."

But their first taste of RAGBRAI wasn't as tough as they initially thought it would be.

"Everybody's like, 'Whoa, you're doing that?' " Ann Ellsworth joked.

"It's not as daunting," Jenny Ellsworth said. "I expected it to be hard, and it wasn't hard."

The sisters arrived at the UNI-Dome around 2 p.m., before the grounds had swelled with other riders.

Veteran biker Jared Navratil, 27, teamed up with members of his family including his mother, who is a first-time rider. He said that decision has made this year's ride a different experience from that of his previous times out.

Continued...

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